Indonesians Irked by Delay With Saudis

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Indonesian workers frustrated by long waits to get exit visas from Saudi Arabia protested outside their consulate in Jeddah on Sunday, setting fire to the building’s outer wall and briefly clashing with security forces, witnesses said.

Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in the country, the world’s top oil exporter, are trying to rectify their immigration status or leave before July 3, when the government will resume a crackdown on illegal labor.

Workers have lined up outside government offices and some consulates for days on end over recent weeks in daytime temperatures over 100 degrees, often sleeping outside the offices to keep their place in line.

Local media have reported that people trying to resolve their status have hit a string of bureaucratic obstacles as government offices and foreign consulates are overwhelmed.

A spokesman for the Jeddah police, Nawaf al-Booq, said that protesters had entered the consulate and caused a stampede in which some people suffered mild injuries. He said that the protesters had dispersed peacefully and that a fire outside the building had been put out.

“Workers were throwing stones and water bottles at police, who shot into the air,” said a witness who did not want to be named.

Films posted online and verified by witnesses showed a fire against the wall of the consulate. Other pictures showed men with scarves over their faces setting alight plastic barriers next to the wall.

Later on Sunday, hundreds of Indonesians were still waiting near the building peacefully, some of them apparently staying in a nearby empty lot where 20 to 30 tents had been set up, a witness said. Food was being distributed, and people were selling bottles of water and other goods. There were few police officers visible.

Saudi Arabia is cracking down on expatriates working illegally as part of wide-ranging labor reforms aimed at pushing more local people into private sector jobs.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Indonesians Irked by Delay With Saudis. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe